419 scam: "FOREIGN PAYMENT OFFICE"<thefpd@yahoo.com> From Foreign Payment Dept

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "FOREIGN PAYMENT OFFICE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <foreignpaymentoffice4@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 01:15:15 -0000
Subject: From Foreign Payment Dept

From the Desk of: Mr. Kwesi Brown
Director of Foreign Payment Dept.
Ministry of Finance Accra-Ghana

Attn: Beneficiary.

This is to inform you that your long delayed contract/inheritance/lottery payment has been approved and ready to be transferred into your account. Instruction came to our office from World Bank to effect this transfer to you as part of your contract/Inheritance payment.

Meanwhile a man came to our office claiming to be your representative; he said that you have asked him to receive your $12,700,000.00 (Twelve Million Seven Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) only on your behalf.

He forwarded a receiving account where you have authorized the above funds to be transferred to. To this effect, we are contacting you to reconfirm from you if you actually authorized Mr. Tim Mallet to claim your funds on your behalf also if you are aware of the account stated below:

Bank name: Bank of America (BOA)
Bank Address: FL1-300-02-07. PO Box 25118. Tampa, FL 33633-0900
Account number: 0137888009
Account name: Tim L. Mallet

Please confirm if you authorized your payment to be made to the above account and if not, do reconfirm to us your Full names, address, telephone number for immediate issuance of your payment Approval documents for transfer to be effected to your account within the next 72 hours.

As soon as the Payment documents are issued in favor of you, we shall nominate our paying Bank to effect payment of your $12.7M without any further delay.
We thank you for your understanding while we ask you to help us serve you better by responding to this message immediately.

Yours faithfully,
Mr. Kwesi Brown
Ministry of Finance,
Foreign Payment Dept. Accra Ghana

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam